Bedroom Scavenger Hunt

A quick indoor hunt that never leaves the bedroom: twelve everyday things, each with a checkbox, under a green title banner and the line "Check off each one you find!". The list is a pillow, a stuffed animal, your favorite book, a pair of socks, your pajamas, a blanket, a light switch, a window, a clock, a hairbrush, a picture on the wall and something under the bed.

Start at the bed, where four of the twelve are usually waiting (pillow, blanket, stuffed animal and pajamas), then go around the room clockwise along the walls for the window, the light switch, the clock and the picture. Save "something under the bed" for last: it is the one kids love, and whatever turns up there can go back where it belongs.

Matching each printed word to a real object is early reading practice, and the list is made of short, concrete nouns a beginning reader can sound out. "A pair of socks" also sneaks in counting: the two socks have to match.

Use it as a tidy-up game: every item found goes back to its proper place before it gets its check mark. On a rainy day, time two siblings in turn and let the faster one hide the stuffed animal for the next round.